Anyone for Seconds?

On Thursday, June 22, 1939, Gone With the Wind’s action took cast and crew to a soundstage replica of a New Orleans café.

There, a chorus line of can-can dancers kicked up their heels and rustled their skirts with gusto for the amusement of the dining patrons. The performers had practiced for weeks for a routine that appears in the film for only seconds.

And speaking of seconds, also filmed was the sequence of Scarlett scraping her plate and asking Rhett for “one of those chocolate ones stuffed with meringue.” He cautions her to “stop being such a glutton” and threatens to divorce her if she gets fat.

Vivien Leigh’s ostentatious Walter Plunkett-designed gown featured a turquoise blue trailing skirt of net over taffeta festooned with nine stuffed birds, a coutureconfection barely visible in the finished film and seen for only seconds.